Contractors generally begin a project with an estimate of how much it will cost writes Eric Block, but no construction company wants to budget for the price of an accident. A safety incident on a job site can do more than disrupt a schedule and increase costs. It also can take a human toll that can have a much greater impact than any line item in a budget.

From start to finish, operating a project safely is a construction company’s most important obligation.

Everyone involved in construction shares the responsibility for a safe working environment. Executives and managers must build and reinforce a culture of safety. Workers must be mindful of the proper procedures related to their roles. Because there is so much at risk at all times, no task is too small to do safely.

For example, something as simple as hammering a nail must be done with the utmost attention to proper techniques and procedures. These include wearing safety goggles, inspecting tools for signs of wear and taking periodic breaks to avoid repetitive stress injuries.

Operating heavy equipment also requires workers to pay attention to safety protocols. Such rules include surveying the surrounding area to ensure you will have enough clearance and having a spotter check your blind spots.

Construction projects are costly. No contractor wants to add to the price of a project through accidents, especially those that can be avoided. The accompanying guide lays out many of the most important safety tips crews should keep in mind before they begin the workday.

Author bio: Eric Block is VP of Sales and Marketing at USA Hoist. He has been in the industry for 15 years, and has the experience and knowledge to help achieve the most effective hoisting solutions for general contractors — assisting with everything from value engineering to logistics plans.

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Horrible looking drains, manhole covers and inspection chambers appear in driveways and footpaths everywhere. You can even find them in the middle of your lawn or garden!
How do you hide ugly manhole covers and drains?
There are several ways to pretty up these ugly necessities but, however you choose to do it, remember that water utility companies require access at all times. If they cannot be accessed when required they will be dug up and not only will you receive a bill for doing so, you will also be left with the expense of repairing any damage.
A much better idea is to (where possible) replace the existing industrial looking cover with a removable recessed (or inset) tray. Then you have the option to either blend them in with the surface or make a feature out of them.
Recessed tray options
A quick internet search will show you just how many different types of recessed trays are available – too many to mention here! You choose depending on where they are and what material you are going to fill them with. Basically they fall into two categories:
Standard recessed tray
Currently the most popular choice, made from polypropylene, aluminium or stainless steel and can be suitable for use by both pedestrians and vehicles.
Permeable recessed tray
This more recent option from EcoGrid provides a load bearing surface that features membranes and a perforated base which allows water to slowly filter through to the drain underneath.
Infill options
Another internet search will result in a lot of options for infilling a recessed tray. Your final choice will depend on where the drain, manhole cover or inspection chamber is and what the surface will be used for. Here are a few of the most popular infill options:
Block paving or bricks
These are common choices and can be cut to either blend in or contrast with the surrounding surface.
Resin bound paving
This is the most popular choice for the seamless finish - created by infilling the recessed tray with the same colour aggregate. You can also create contrast by using a different colour or produce a logo or design in the recessed tray. Using a permeable recessed tray with resin bound paving creates a fully permeable surface.
Loose gravel
Probably the quickest and easiest way to infill a recessed tray is with loose gravel, but it will inevitably scatter. The fleeing gravel will need regular sweeping and replacing and your lawn mower won’t like it much either...
Grass
Whilst sowing grass seeds into a recessed tray blends in with a lawn it can be awkward to mow and unless it’s sown in a permeable recessed tray, it will dry out very quickly. Of course you could opt for artificial grass…
Plants and flowers
Infilling with flowers and/or plants can help disguise unsightly drains, manhole covers or inspection chambers. You can also create a spectacular feature, but as with grass they will dry out very quickly unless a permeable recessed tray is used.
Useful links:
How to build a recessed manhole cover : http://www.diy.com/help-ideas/how-to-build-a-manhole-cover/CC_npcart_400198.art
An overview http://www.pavingexpert.com/recess01.htm from the Paving Expert.
We strongly recommend clarifying ownership and responsibility before modifying or carrying out maintenance to drains, sewers and manholes.
Author: Gail Gilkes, Head of Marketing, SureSet UK Ltd. Visit: www.sureset.co.uk
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The headline says it all - and it particularly applies to the construction industry; especially when it comes to our small corner of it, the resin bound permeable paving market.
We are not afraid to tell you that we sometimes lose out to competitors quoting up to 20% cheaper than us. “What?” I hear you say “Some of your competitors are 20% cheaper than you and you are admitting it?” Yes we are and for a very, very good reason…
All too often we hear from customers who, having previously bought a cheaper product, ask us to rectify problems associated with inferior resin bound paving.
Knowing that the basic requirement of every company is to make a profit, we can rule out companies doing too many jobs ‘out of the kindness of their heart’ or free of charge.
So, with only a limited number of ways to make one resin bound product cheaper than another, and ruling out profit as the major difference, the only other ways are:
Cheaper resins
Everyone in the industry knows that the resin used (very unsurprisingly) within resin bound paving is the single most crucial factor in determining whether your product is average or great. Although the quality, cleanliness and consistency of the stone is vitally important, what really differentiates material suppliers is the quality of the resin binder used.
There are many ‘tunes’ which can be played with the resin including using different types of vastly differing qualities and altering the formulation percentages to make products stronger or weaker.
Obviously less resin equals cheaper, and I seriously doubt anyone would be surprised that cheaper equals weaker.
At SureSet we only use high quality resins, in the correct formulas, ensuring that the durability of our product is top of the agenda.
Poor mix design
Not investing in technical expertise is another way of reducing cost. Every blend we create at SureSet is tested using a process we have developed over 18 years. We know that each type and size of individual aggregate has different characteristics, which means that some types of aggregate require different amounts of resin than others.
I have heard many companies say “just dump this 7kg resin on top of any 100kg of dry stone and away you go”, but the reality is producing high quality, long lasting products is a far more technical process than that.
This completely rules out the ‘one size fits all’ theory, yet there are many well established companies who are still doing just that.
Hand in hand with good design is the need to manage quality so that the product produced is consistent and meets required standards. Customers should look for suppliers who demonstrate this by achieving and maintaining national standards, such as ISO 9001 and Investors in People.
Total quantity of material used
There are some companies who, to keep the cost of a job low, will install the material at less than optimal depths, regardless of its end use.
When buying resin bound paving you should make sure that each quote has the same specification; if one company is stating a 20mm depth, and the other a 16mm depth, ask both companies why. The likelihood is that the company stating 20mm will have done so due to turning vehicles, large vehicles or heavier usage etc. The 20mm material will last longer, and withstand its intended use.
Let’s not forget the company stating 20mm also wants to be as competitive as possible, so it does not make commercial sense to state a greater depth, and therefore increased cost, than is necessary. If 16mm will do the job, then 16mm would have been quoted for.
Poor workmanship
Labour costs are also a significant factor when determining the selling point of resin bound paving, both in having the necessary skills, and having enough labour on site. Our experience allows us to precisely assess how many installers are needed to install a particular job and enables us to price accurately.
A mistake commonly made is in thinking that three installers can do the job of five… In theory they probably could, but will the quality and attention to detail be the same if your surface were laid by five skilled installers? The simple answer is no.
If we at SureSet took that approach, whilst our quote would be more competitive and our profit margin increase, the reality is that the installation would be rushed and shortcuts taken. We do everything in our power to avoid under-estimating the time needed for each installation - at the end of the day you are ‘only as good as your last job’.
In short there would be no time to walk that ‘extra mile’ and deliver the high quality associated with SureSet.
To summarise
Throughout the 18 years SureSet has been manufacturing, supplying and installing permeable resin bound paving, we have been called upon to rectify poor installations.
Some can be repaired, while others require complete replacement. Unfortunately for the customer, the original cheap price is no longer the bargain they originally thought it was.
When buying resin bound paving I urge you not to buy on price, but consider these points when making your decision:
Value – don’t just consider the upfront cost, but the whole life investment into the quality of the product. Remember you can only make cheap resin bound paving by compromising the quality of the end product.
Quality– a product that has been well designed, researched and invested in will look better and last longer.
Reputation – read testimonials, ask to see installations near you or speak to customers before purchasing. ‘Word of mouth’ still goes a long way.
Guarantee – established companies offering long guarantees offer them for a reason. Likewise companies offering a short guarantee also do so for a reason.
Although we would love to, we don’t expect to win every tender we submit - it is not feasible or conducive to a healthy market. However when we lose out to an inferior, cheaper product is frustrating because we know that at some point in the future the customer, who thought they were choosing between ‘like for like’ products will be disappointed with their decision.
Not only was this a loss to SureSet, but more worryingly it could be a loss to the resin bound paving market. So as the title of my blog suggests:
Please, please don’t purchase purely on price, purchase on value.
Author: Ben Shave, Sales Director, SureSet UK Ltd.
Visit: https://www.sureset.co.uk/
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The construction industry has been experimenting with 3D printers since they were first invented in the 1980’s but in recent years as they have become less expensive, this technology is showing that it might well make a real contribution to buildings of the future.
The technology can already be used to create construction components or to 'print' entire buildings and because of our detailed and stringent design processes our industry is well-suited to 3D printing as much of the information necessary to create components already exists. More recently, with the introduction of BIM modelling, we may well see this process being accelerated.
A 3D digital model of a product or component can be created using CAD or a 3D scanner. The printer then reads that design and lays down successive layers of printing medium which are joined or fused to create the end component.
There are many examples of successful 3D projects allied to construction. In 2014, engineers at Arup fabricated a sreel node for a lightweight structure and the University of California has developed a process of contour crafting using concrete to produce small-scale models of the external and internal wallos.
According to sources from the BBC, Shanghai based WinSun Decoration Design Engineering has used large 3D printers to spray a mixture of quick drying cement and recycled raw materials which has enabled them to construct 10 small demonstration 'houses' in less than 24 hours. They are encouraged by the fact that each house costs just $5,000 dollar a time using this technology.
Construction Manager Magazine reported in July 2014 that a Chinese company, Qingdao Unique Products had unveiled the World's largest 3D printer. Its first job was to print a 7m high Temple of Heaven.
In Spain, the first pedestrian bridge printed in 3D in the world was inaugurated 14th of December of 2016 in the urban park of Castilla-La Mancha in Alcobendas, Madrid. The bridge has a total length of 12 metres and a width of 1.75 metres and is printed in micro- reinforced concrete.
What all of these projects have in common is the potential for enormous cost savings with faster building times and fewer hours on site being an enormous attraction for an industry obsessed by price and it’s almost certain that 3D will carve out an enormous niche for itself in the market place.
On the negative side, it will require enormous investment in specialist machinery and while we can still see a growing trend towards off site production, which is well suited to 3D this writer believes we still have a long way to go.
So for the moment, traditional building materials are not under threat – or are they?
By John Ridgeway
Follow me on Twitter @JohnRidgeway99

Every building is made up of hundreds if not thousands of different building products and materials. Each product has been tested in a laboratory and certified to confirm it will do its job. However, once on-site, materials will act differently. They come into contact with different atmospheric conditions and are reliant on the installation by a contractor. This is where on-site technical support proves its worth.
On-site technical support is often under-valued, but as a business, Sika places huge emphasis on it. It’s a core part of our product offering and a fundamental part of our everyday business. As a global leader, producing products for a variety of market sectors from construction to automotive (see http://bit.ly/2o8Ca6Z) supporting our customers is something we do - everyday.
For Sika, on-site support starts at the research and development stage. We don’t just test new products in a laboratory and then package and sell them. We take them to market and test them in the real world. A laboratory is a controlled environment and our products are not installed in controlled environments – they are installed in some of the most challenging and harsh conditions you can imagine.
Every site is different and contractors work in very different ways. As such, it is important to put our products into practice to see how they react. This could be from how they are handled on site; what effect the weather has on them and how they react to other materials. It is also important to get feedback from contractors as they are at the sharp end installing them every day – their feedback on how the product feels, how easy it is to work with is invaluable.
We also believe that we have a responsibility to ensure that once our products have been specified, they are installed correctly and the end results meet the client’s expectations. Changing specifications happens all too frequently, often as a way of reducing costs. However, sometimes a change in specification has a knock-on effect and the end result is that it isn’t fit for purpose and ends-up costing the client more money.
There is also the issue of interpretation. Many commercial and industrial projects we visit are made up of different areas, from manufacture to storage. The floors in these different parts of the building need to be treated differently as their usage can differ greatly. Therefore, different grades of flooring should be specified depending on their intended use.
This is easy to overlook when looking at project drawings, but with on-site support the use of the building can quickly be ascertained and a suitable specification created.
On-site technical support shouldn’t stop there. We work closely with our contractor network to assist them on a job-by-job basis. This starts with training for a site operative at our Preston or Welwyn Garden City facilities and runs right through to assessing on site performance on a job. This is essential for projects where Sika is providing a guarantee.
Technical support adds value at every stage – from helping develop new product to creating appropriate specifications, assisting with workmanship to ensuring a specification is maintained and the results exceed expectation. The only way to do this is by witnessing products in-use and seeing projects being delivered.
There is no substitute to real life. On-site support may be a traditional value, but it’s a value that Sika believes strongly in, and it’s something that I believe makes us that little bit different.
By Mark Prizeman, Sika Technical Services Manager, Flooring and Refurbishment
Visit: http://gbr.sika.com/en/group/about-us/sika-everyday.html

Feb 02, 2018 0

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